The composer, the artist and the Brickworks
Film composer Michael Nyman also has a passion for making his own movies. His Australian debut is co-hosted by COFA.
Published on the 27 May 2011
British composer Michael Nyman is best known for his scores, but he's developed another artistic endeavour - film.
The Australian debut of his work is at the Brickworks, in Sydney Park, St Peters.
Co-hosted by COFA's National Institute for Experimental Arts (NIEA), Cine Opera shows vignettes from everyday life, such as football fans celebrating in Barcelona and the connection between two train carriages in Tunisia. Many of the films are set to his music.
The installation was opened by director Jane Campion.
Michael Nyman's scores include Campion's work The Piano as well as those from a long-standing collaboration with Peter Greenaway (The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover and Prospero's Books).
Nyman began filming over 40 years ago, but honed his skills over the past 15 years.
"Now I always go out armed with a camera or two," he says. "Filming is the opposite of composing music. It's completely unpredictable."
The exhibition is curated by NIEA's Felicity Fenner.
"This installation is a collection of spontaneous visual diaries of everyday life across a diversity of cultures. Soundtracks to some of the films use location sounds, whilst others recycle existing scores from the composer's own archive, or a combination of both to create sound/score montages," she says.
The event is co-hosted by The Conservatorium of Music, where Michael Nyman is Composer-in-Residence. The event at the Brickworks runs until 13 June.
Read more at the SMH.
Media contact: Susi Hamilton | UNSW Media | 9385 1583